Sam's visit to the Vet

IT WENT GREAT!!!. Sam(Umbrella Cockatoo) was a perfect angel the whole time!. He stood on hubby's shoulder while I drove there and back(20 miles round trip), he even explored and got on my shoulder a few times. Never showed any aggression whatsoever. He was wonderful for the Vet. They did the physical, bloodwork, DNA and trimmed his beak and nails.... not a squawk out of him. The vet said that he is probably nervous and scared from all the changes, it will take some time and he should be a wonderful pet. He said he really likes U2's, they are great birds and their temperment and personality depends on how they were/are treated. He likes working with Cockatoo's much better than Macaws LOL. He should call tomorrow afternoon with the bloodwork results and the DNA test should come back in about a week, then we'll know if Sam is a he or she for sure ... cant wait!. Vet said Sam looked very healthy and there were no problems when he did the hands on physical. We are so happy it went so well, praying they dont find any problems in the bloodwork.

We have an appointment tomorrow morning to take Cherokee in for her yearly physical and bloodwork.. and Hedwig in for beak and nail trim, he already had his yearly check up. After tomorrow, all the birds are in the clear (medically) for awhile YAY!.

[dlaura]

That's great Jan! I hope the vet proves out to be 100% on the money - for everyone's sake.

HEY I'LL PRAY IM GLAD TO HEAR

['too crazy]

great news, Jan! If it's just change thats making Sam onery, I'm sure he'll come around real soon. Let us know how the results come back and if Sam's a Samuel or a Samantha! ha ha

[krazy4birds]

I'm glad to hear there were no problems.....The truth now.....did you get just a wee bit nervous when he came to you while you were driving??? lol
I need to get my birds checked out too. 100 miles either way I go to get to an Avian vet. My vet that takes care of Frankie knows little to nothing about birds....so.....I guess it will be 2 at a time when I go. I don't think I can handle more than that.
Anyway..glad the vet trip went well

Well Judy, I was VERY careful when Sam was on me while driving LOL... but was soooo happy. I think it was a big step forward!.

Cherokee's and Hedwig's vet visit also went really good. The vet said they look wonderfully healthy. I just love my vet!!. We musta talked to him for an hour. He said since we religiously bring our birds in for yearly check ups, he will let us bring our guys in for wing clips, beak and nail trims anytime for FREE. We usually clip the wings ourselves... but dont wanna touch the beaks and nails!.
We're pretty excited with the free trims!!.

Part of Sam's tests came back this morning and so far he is very healthy and no problems YAY.

The vet told us about a B&G Macaw that came in. The owner said the B&G wasn't acting right and wanted it checked. The vet took x-rays and found two BB pellets, one in its neck and one in its wing, but there were no fresh flesh wounds so the pellets have been in the bird for awhile... poor thing. The pellets weren't causing any problems for the bird at this time... they found out that the owner had been feeding it lots of cheese and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The vet said this will cause the bird to not feel good and suggested the owner to only feed healthy foods.

Does anyone else's vet use mild gas when doing bloodwork on the birds?. Ours uses it on the Macaws to help reduce the stress. He didnt use it on the Cockatoo's, he said they can handle it much better, but the Macaws have more problems. The last vet we had didn't use anything on Cherokee and it was so traumatic for her... the visit this morning was so much better and she did great, she wasn't the least bit stressed. Our vet is a certified aviary vet and takes care of the other vets pet birds in the area.... he's wonderful and we're so thankful to have him!.

[dlaura]

You're lucky Jan. I had a hard time finding a real Avian vet and did not care for him much. Plan to try another when year rolls around.

P.S. - I emailed the pics. Hope they got thru.

[abirds]

He sounds like a wonderful vet. I am glad that they are all healthy. It's a shame to hear about the macaw. Ok now i need a box of tissues.

Jan that's fabulous that the vet visits went great for all the birds! I too can't wait to find out if Sam is a "Sam" or really a "Samantha". Your vet sounds terrific. I'm envious of bird people in CA, there's so many board certified avian vets there! There's only one in KS I think, who teaches at the veterinary college here..who I hope to meet and be taught by someday. My vet doesn't usually have to use gas on birds for the regular tests, trimmings, etc, but if they are extremely stressed she will. Most of the time, even on greys or macaws, she just towels them and has a second person help hold the bird, and gets through whatever needs to be done as fast as possible, despite screaming, lol. For the large macaws, she even puts in earplugs and I now know why *OUCH*! Good luck on finding a new vet Diane. I dont' know what I'd do if I didn't like mine.

The vet called today and said all the test results for Cherokee and Sam came back and looked great, they're very healthy 3 yr olds YAY!. AND... Sam is a boy!. We'll probably keep his name because we're so used to calling him that and Sam the dog is getting the hang of what "Sam" we're talking to LOL. So now we have 3 boys and 1 girl in the birdy world .

[Amanda]

Glad to hear everyone's healthy ... and congrats on Sam being a "boy"!

['too crazy]

Congrats on your new boy! Could he possibly be hormonal and that why he comes after you? How's that coming along??

Hmmm, maybe that could be it Sherry... I dont know if he's to that maturity level yet since he's only about 3 yrs old. He's actually calming down alot. We did move his cage to a part of the room where its more quiet and less traffic .. it seems to be helping. Where we had him before, you had to walk by him all the time and I guess he wasn't used to all that activity being in the garage in his prior home, maybe thats why he dive bombed me.. I was walking by him too much LOL. We traded spots with Kolola because Kolola kept getting off his cage and roaming to the other cages.. guess he wanted more activity LOL. Kolola still wanders to the other cages when he gets a chance, but not as much.. he's such a little stinker!. Sam has actually been real friendly towards me lately. He was on the floor and I put my arm down(covered for protection of course) and he started rubbing his head on my arm and making these little humming noises. And when he's locked in his cage to go nite-nite, he sticks his foot out as far as he can to me, so I put out my hand and he holds my fingers in a friendly way and doesn't want to let go.. I just want to hug him!. He's screaming alot less now and laughs alot. We are thinking about changing his name again LOL... I just dont like the name of "Sam" for a bird... I kinda like Syler, Zeke or Molokai... but hubby's not sure....oh well, guess we'll keep mulling over idea's.

How's the cage thing going with you?.

['too crazy]

Glad to here things are coming along better with Sam...or Syler, or Zeke or Moloaki. I know what you mean about their names. Barney? Give me a break. I think of the Flintstones all the time. lol But with all his problems I was hesitant to change it. It's to bad we don't know what REALLY happened to them before we got them. Maybe some female did something to Sam and thats why he's leary of you. But he does sound like he's coming around. Maybe he's seeing how much love the rest get and wants some of that for himself! I mean how much attention can a bird get in the garage?? I decided not to get the cage. It's a 2 hr. drive to her house and could find there's something else she didn't tell me. There's a pet store about an hr. from here that has all kinds of birds and I'm sure they'll have cages there to pick from. I think I'll check that out if it ever stops snowing!! (I hate driving in it!)

[dlaura]

too crazy - you and me both - I absolutely hate driving in snow also.

Jan, congrats on Sam's name actually fitting him! I am glad he seems to be coming around and accepting you.